The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is headed to Cleveland, OH for the first time in promotional history with UFC 203: Miocic vs Overeem. The stacked 13 fight card, which includes the debut of WWE superstar Phil “CM Punk” Brooks is set to kick off with preliminary action at 6:15pm ET on UFC Fight Pass, which will follow at 8pm ET on FOX Sports 1, culminating with the main card at 10pm ET only on Pay Per View. If interesting in wagering on any of the bouts for this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at Several Bookmakerss. Kicking things off for the UFC 203 prelims on FOX Sports 1 will be a flyweight contest between former #1 ranked flyweight “Uncle Creepy” Ian McCall and New Mexico’s Ray Borg. Despite being so low on the prelims, this is one of the most looked forward to fights on the entire card. “Uncle Creepy” has been plagued by injuries and has not seen action since a January 2015 unanimous decision loss to John Lineker, where he saw his two fight winning streak snapped and potential title shot disappear. He will be aiming to make a comeback in impressive fashion with a dominant performance against Borg. “The Tazmexican Devil” last saw action at UFC Fight Night 82 seven months ago, where he had his three fight winning streak snapped by a unanimous decision loss to Justin Scoggins. That means one thing he and McCall have in common is that both of their previous opponents have since moved up to the bantamweight division after having issues making the flyweight limit. McCall vs Borg is a fun fight and could be a contender for the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ honors. It is a big fight for both 125-pounders, and they are expected to give it their all in an effort to get their hand raised in front of the Cleveland crowd. Middleweights take center stage in the next bout of the evening, as Brad Tavares returns from an extended 16-month layoff to take on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Caio Magalhaes. Tavares is 1-3 in his last four bouts and is coming off a first round knockout loss to Robert Whittaker, so he has his back against the wall heading into this one on Saturday night. Magalhaes is coming off a long layoff himself, so cage rust could be a factor for both 185-pounders. The 28 year old Brazilian had his four fight winning streak snapped in a first round rear naked choke loss to Josh Samman 14 months ago at the TUF 21 Finale. He will be looking to get back on track by recording his biggest career win over the veteran Tavares. Promotional newcomer Michael McBride drops down to the lightweight division (from welterweight) to make his UFC debut against Nik “The Carney” Lentz on short notice. VISA issues to Lentz’s originally scheduled opponent Mairbek Taisumov left a window open for McBride to cash his ticket into the big show. Lentz will be looking to make it two in a row for himself since moving back up to the lightweight division, following a controversial split decision win over Danny Castillo in his return to 155-pounds. McBride, on the other hand, will be looking to remain undefeated as a pro and make waves in the UFC. The featured bout for UFC 203’s FOX Sports 1 prelims is a women’s bantamweight contest between Cleveland’s own Jessica “Evil” Eye and former women’s 135-pound title challenger Bethe “Pitbull” Correia. This is a “do or die” fight for both ladies, as Eye has suffered three consecutive defeats and Correia is coming off a pair of losses of her own.
